1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to surgical instruments, and more particularly to steerable and articulate surgical instruments having robotically actuated features and manually actuated features.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of robotic surgery and machine-aided surgical procedures there is the need to rapidly and efficiently introduce material to, and remove material from, the surgical area. For example, in some situations it is desirable to remove blood accumulation near a surgical site in order to maintain good visibility for the surgeons. Similarly, it is desirable to remove smoke during endoscopic procedures to maintain good visibility. In some situations it is desirable to introduce a gas to inflate a body cavity that includes an organ or a tissue that is involved in surgery. Such insufflation provides sufficient space for the surgeon to move the surgical instruments and for an adequate endoscopic field of view. In other situations, it may be desirable to irrigate the surgical area (e.g., with water or a saline solution), either for allowing visibility of the area of interest or to provide moisture to the tissue surrounding the area of interest.
During teleoperated robotic surgery (e.g., using a da Vinci® Surgical System, commercialized by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.), teleoperated surgical instruments are introduced through the patient's body wall in order to access and work at a surgical site. In situations in which surgical suction or irrigation is required, a patient side surgical assistant removes one of the robotically controlled instruments from its associated cannula, and then manually introduces a manually controlled instrument that provides suction or irrigation. The assistant then manually maneuvers and operates the suction or irrigation instrument while viewing the surgical site in a patient side monitor, while at the same time coordinating with the surgeon, who is operating the master surgical system control. Once the patient side assistant completes the suction or irrigation function, the manual instrument is removed and the robotic surgical instrument replaced. Thus, the need to use manually operated suction and irrigation instruments for surgical procedures that involve a telerobotic surgical system interferes with the surgical work flow. This need also defeats some of the advantages of the camera-referenced telepresence that such a surgical system offers. Nevertheless, there are situations in which a manually operated suction or irrigation instrument is desirable during a telerobotic surgical procedure, such as controlling the suction and irrigation functions and suction/irrigation instrument position as the surgeon operates two other telerobotic surgical instruments.
What is needed is a surgical instrument that provides the benefit of both teleoperated surgical operation and the benefit of operation by a patient side assistant.